


Under The Night Sky

by StrippingSatan



Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Completely AU, F/M, OC Darkling, Why did I even?, just some drabbles i wrote to kill time, some continued scenes from the book
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-29 03:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10845327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrippingSatan/pseuds/StrippingSatan
Summary: A collection of oneshots revolving around the beloved characters of the Grisha Trilogy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Super short oneshots that are completely unrelated to each other and are set in AU. Let me just tell you that they're really OC in this (I guess?) and there aren't many concrete parallels to the trilogy. I might just continue with more oneshots if I have the time.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girl runs.  
> The boy chases.

**i. Schwarzwald**

 

The girl ran.

She ran as far as her legs could carry her, but tree after tree she ran- all identical to the next- the view was the same. A constant plane of dark trunks, the boughs too tall and too dark to be seen, with only the night sky, speckled with twinkling lights to guide her. Her long ivory hair flowed behind her as beads of sweat trickled down her face and body, drenching her white dress. Despite the running, a cold chill tore through her as the realisation settled in: _the woods were never ending_.

After a moment, she stopped abruptly. She heard rather than saw him close the distance behind her. The man- _boy_ , she never really knew- drew her closer to him, relishing how he didn't really have to pull seeing as she herself leaned back. She turned around then, and froze at the sight of her pale prince, something she could never really learn to stop. His ebony hair even darker now in the woods. His quartz eyes searched hers before he smiled- a small one at that- at the look of defeat in her eyes. He brought his gloved hands to cup her face and her eyes fluttered close at the contact.

"Mine," he murmured, barely audible even in the silent night, as he covered her lips with his. 

The girl, she was Life. And no matter how far Life went, Death would always follow.

 

 

**ii. Cat and Mouse**

 

"Alina," he called. Even through a wall, she could hear the smirk in his muffled voice. She would've laughed but avoiding the risk of giving herself away, she chose to remain silent in the dark as she had been for the past 10 minutes. Another minute passed, then-

The door opened, sending light skittering everywhere.

"Alina," again he called, this time a murmur. He walked cautiously as if sensing her nearby. As he walked to the other side of the room, she slowly inched her way from the side of the cabinet to the door, and just another step closer-

"I found you," he whispered in the shell of her ear. Rough hands turned her over before she could even react and then she was met with his grey eyes, now filled with some emotion she couldn't be too sure of.

"Aleksander?" she put her hands on his chest as his grip on her waist tightened. She moved her hands further up, to his shoulders, then the nape of his neck, and finally decided on hooking it lightly around his neck before asking, 

"What's wrong? You've already won."

"Nothing," he smiled a minuscule smile.

Her eyes probed him further. Then finally:

"I like the way you look in the dark."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive critisicm would be appreciated!


	2. Aleksander

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to the ever wonderful Baghra. It continues the scene in Ruin and Rising where Baghra finally explains her roots to Alina in the Spinning Wheel.

**iii. Aleksander**

Baghra put down her glass.

She supposes that whenever she brings up her childhood, one bottle of  _kvas_  is never enough. 

"Go play with the tracker, boy," she says to the dark because that's all that Baghra has now; the dark.

She expects to hear feet scuffling but as she picks up nothing, she turns her head, and though sightless as she may be, she gets a door shutting close as her answer. _Hmph._

Although the _kvas_ still burns strongly in her, centuries of life has still failed to quell the onslaught of emotions that come alive in her, blocking her airway, causing her heart to tighten in on itself, as if threatening to collapse at any given moment. Her throat closes up, and it gets harder for her to swallow. She's surprised to find that she actually feels _sad_. Heartbroken. Terrified for her son, for the boy who didn't deserve any of this. For the son that could've been different, if only the people hadn't molded him into the monster they had so fiercely feared. 

And at that moment, she feels like the mother who tore down a village for her son.

_-_

_The woman continues forward, as sore as her feet are, she has to. She looks at the small boy trailing behind her, head down, eyes kept on the snowy path, and thinks, if not for her sake, at least for his._ _They've been on this path for a while now, searching for a village with only rumors to guide them. Whispers of witches. Smoke in the sky. With winter heavy upon them, their chances grow weaker, as if freezing along with the cold air._

_Everyday they grow tired, her son even more so, as his body has not even grown yet. His voice still high pitched._

_"Are we there yet, madraya?" the grey eyed boy asks, exhaustion lining his features._

_And just as she was about to answer-_

_They hear it._

_The sound of children laughing._

_The woman smiles, "We are."_

_-_

Baghra forces herself to withdraw from that episode, for if she continues, she doesn't believe she'll be able to push Alina to do what she has asked her to do countless of times. _End it_. 

_He doesn't deserve any of this,_  a small part of her whispers, the one that she thought had been long since buried, along with the hope of redemption for her son.

And she gets pulled in again.

-

_"Whatever happens,_ stay here," _the woman commands._

_She softens at the look of fear in the boy's eyes as she says,_

_"I'll only be gone for a while," and before she got up, she stills as if she forgot something, and adds, "What's your name?"_

_"Iva- Maxim," he answers, ears tipped red from the mistake._

_"Where are you from?"_

_"Ryevost."_

_She smiles then, and pats his head, before heading to the village of the laughing children, hoping to put an end to their cold nights, even if it would just be temporary._

_-_

_The village, Baghra observes from a distance, looks to be no different from the other villages. But Baghra knows better, she knows where to look. For the tell tale signs to appear to her as easy as the shadows. But as she moves closer to the village, she can't help the dread that fills her because as the distance closes in as fast the sun disappears for the night to take over, the village looks_ normal.  _For the first time throughout the years she's been careful, she doesn't see the signs. And as she sets her face into a careful mask of innocence, she lets the weight settle in steadily: there are no Grisha here._

_She contemplates leaving as her minds repeats two words over and over:_ not safe,  _but her thoughts travel back to the tired boy and she wills herself to be more careful than she has ever been her whole life. The heavy gust of cold wind that bites her cheeks only makes her resolve stronger with each step as she accepts the fact that it's too late to search for their temporary haven in this winter._

_As she travels back to the boy upon renting their room at a common inn, she notices the curious stares that follow her, that follow the lone woman. But eventually the stares become sorry glances as she returns playing the lost girl, careless and left with a child._

_-_

_"Why didn't they greet us this time, Madraya?" the boy asks as they've settled in._

_"They've decided that 'What better way to make them feel welcome than treating them as if they were always part of the village?' was the best way of greeting," Baghra answers, thinking it would be better if he didn't know. For once, she's thankful for the cold as even the drüskelle couldn't possibly be out hunting in this cold._

_Finally, the boy smiles, even if it was the barest of smiles, and Baghra can't help the ache in her chest._

_"Now, rest well, my boy," Baghra smiles back, equally as small._

_-_

_They spend a whole day in their room, appreciating every second of the heat, surviving on the supplies they had prepared for the journey. The woman holding her son close to her, tucking him in her arms, as they stay seated on the floor in front of the warm heat. Shadows playing across the room, with her son creating his own, mimicking it. And she wonders who truly are the monsters._

_-_

_Eventually, when the cold finally slows down in her pursuit, Baghra and her son has to leave their room. Partly to restock their supplies, partly to dismiss any suspicion. For the most part of it, they've managed to avoid arousing any hostile stares, successfully purchasing supplies that could last them a month. And for once in a long while, she actually feels safe. She thinks her son feels it too- if him actually bringing his head up to look up, observing the children playing- is anything to go by._

_But Baghra was never one to be blessed with luck. Not that she has ever relied on it, as she has learned not to rely on anyone. But she guesses it's probably her fault for being naive. For actually believing in the world._ Foolish girl.

_So as she she hears the heavy beats of horses, her hand grows tighter around her son's, but she isn't surprised._

_The villagers began crowding together, fearful as they would always be, because just as the drüskelle are something to be afraid of by the grisha, small villages do not get the mercy of escaping from their violence either._

_The hunters finally appear, their mounts the very image of a nightmare. A single hunter brings himself forward. The leader._

_"Who is the head of the village?" the hunter sneers, wasting no pretense of kindness._

_"I am," a man steps forward, stumbling with his words._

_"Do not waste my time. I have heard rumors, Ulle, that your village houses the witches," he basically accuses and Baghra grips her fear and keeps it as a steady fuel for her burning power, ready to be unleashed at any given second._

_At the back of the crowd, Baghra slowly brings her quivering son and herself back to the inn, the exchange behind them now blended in the background of her mind, as the gears start moving, plotting the perfect spot to escape unnoticed. And as Baghra opens to the door to the inn-_

_"_ Them _. If-if_ _anything, i-i-it's them," the Ulle stutters, pointing to the two,"The woman came in alone, renting a room for herself and the small boy. Probably killed the child's father for them to be alone," he continued with more conviction._

_And Baghra feels the all too familiar stares dripping with hostility as the villagers all turn to them._

_"Ma-madraya? Wha-what do we do?" her son whispers as she pushes him behind her back._

_"Well, witch? Is what he says true?" the hunter's grin promising anything but mercy._

_"Even a man empty handed poses more of a threat than a single woman with a child,"  Baghra answers, her voice level. And her eyes watches as another hunter dismounts the ghostly beast and walks towards them. "One would say that those pointing fingers should themselves be turned an eye on," she continues, eyes still on the approaching hunter._

_"You make a compelling statement, witch. But I've been to this village once. And so I assume your retreat into the inn only strengthens the rumor that a kind villager had traded with me himself,"  he says as he looks towards the inn-keeper who Baghra had finally noticed to be in the crowd._

_"I've seen what your kind can do, even as a child," he moves his eye to her son and her power only thrums stronger in her chest._

_"Give up the child, witch. And we might be able to sell you off to a wealthy master in Shu Han," he mocks, faltering Baghra's attention to remain solely on him and as she opens her mouth to answer-_

_And then the other hunter was suddenly by her side, ripping her son from her hold._

_"Madraya!" the boy shouts fearfully, eyes shiny with tears. Now held with a knife to his throat._

_Baghra's whole body goes taut as a wire, and as shame and guilt wrap around her -shame for letting an otkazat'sya distract her, guilt for endangering her son by her foolishness- her chest heaves painfully and suddenly her arm swings in an arc as tears flow down her cheeks, and the damage is done. Her son runs towards her, crying_ madraya _before the corpse collapses to two parts. And as the drüskelle began hurtling towards them, she manages to shout two words to her son before pushing him behind her and wracking havoc to the village that didn't deserve to live._

_Run, Aleksander._

-

_Long after the village held no more whispers of life, a new presence had settled over the clearing, now littered with broken structures: the stench of death._

_After ensuring herself that no lives had been spared, Baghra walked into the woods in search of her son, feeling exhausted and a number of other emotions that she was too tired to decipher._

_But as she finally spotted the small figure, huddled next to a tree, shaking not only from the cold, Baghra was positive_ regret _was something she was_ not  _feeling. Despite all else, she couldn't stop the tears that spilled as she gathered the weeping Aleksander in her arms._

_"It's ok, zvyozdochka," Baghra whispered, pressing her lips to his head, "You're safe now."_

_And Aleksander didn't say anything but pushed further into her embrace as they stayed that way for what felt like hours._

_-_

Baghra sat in her chair, and dreamt of a world where her son could live without fear, of how things would have turned out. And as if on queue, Misha entered the room, after basically being  _shooed_ out of it, and brought Baghra back to the harsh reality. And it was at that moment that Baghra wondered when had the last time been since she called her son by the name etched on his heart.

 

 

_Aleksander._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has everyone read Demon in The Woods already? I've just finally found a site to read it and I just- I can't. My poor baby >~< I hope I didn't write Baghra too badly in this. I felt like the two of them were a bit OC, mainly due to the fact that it was set way back, before even Demon in The Woods with a teeny wittle Aleksander. Constructive criticism would be appreciated.


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